The Trim Bin #14

- I can learn a lot from a well-written review arguing an opinion contrary to my own. Walter Chaw's two-star review of Munich was possibly the most insightful take on personal choice for the best film of 2005. However, I really must point you towards Cinemasalon blogger Steve Satullo's take on Spielberg's film, which I found to be, er, lacking (for starters, his is the first review I've read to draw a comparison to Ocean's Eleven). Satullo is a fellow Images Focus contributor, so I've tried to save my venom out of tact; I recommend you browse his, um, distinctive reviews and discover the Satullo experience for yourself (note that comments are disabled; like Brian O'Blivion, he prefers monologue).

- Another reason to love Spike Jonze: he helmed this nifty Gap commercial.

- Talladega Nights: I'm there.

- Yesterday I went with Jess, Jack, Max and Carol to screenings of Nosferatu and Rosemary's Baby at the Brattle. As part of something called the Faith and Film Festival, the films were followed by guest lecturers from BU and moderated audience discussion. The first one was thought-provoking and brought out a lot of the subtext of the film; the second, not so much. Still, it's good that the Brattle has secured its future through this year, and hopefully they'll meet their goals to stay open permanently; such film havens are vital. Greg mentioned in his blog and here that Video Stop, a charming little store in Bennington, will be gone within a few weeks, and it's a palpable loss. Film is at its best a communal experience, and while this internet business seems to have a future, we can only hope that there will always be places for us cinephiles to dwell.

- Okay, it's impolite but I can't resist - I have to leave you with my favorite Satulloism. From his review of The Upside of Anger:

"My mentor in film study, Professor Charles Samuels of Williams College, used to be notorious for walking out of movies in the first five or ten minutes. He was determined to see everything worth seeing, but not to waste a minute on trash. I, however, determined not to cut the performance short on anything I went into with some presupposition of quality. So if I decide to watch something, I usually watch it to the end. My god, I even made it to the end of Lethal Weapon, though it made me feel unclean to do so (but I had the sense to go nowhere near LW2 or 3 or 4.) "

Doesn't that just scream "monocle"? I'm just saying...